The Virgin Islands Folk Museum is located in the Penn House built in 1911. We were there in mid–January and the Christmas decorations remained. My purpose in visiting Caribbean islands in January, 2003, was to locate information on the slave trade between Africa and South Carolina. Specifically, I was looking for any signs of Capt. Styles Lightburn (Lightbourn, Lightbourne) or his brothers. Between the Revolutionary War and the Civil War, the Lightburns ran slaves and other goods between West Africa, the Caribbean, and South Carolina.

Tortola was my first stop. This small, 21–square–mile island, and its capital, Road Town, are at the center of the 60 British Virgin Islands (BVI) and just a mile from the US Virgin Island of St. John. These islands, to the east of Puerto Rico, were discovered by Columbus and named the 11,000 Virgins.

Tortola in Spanish means turtledove, a name given by the Spanish. The islands passed back and forth between Spain and the Netherlands until the British annexed them in 1672. It took the British Navy a century to wrest control from pirates and buccaneers. They are now closely aligned with the US Virgin Islands economically and use the US dollar.

This shop with second–floor residence is a typical West Indian building. The bottom floor is concrete (usually tabby), and the upper floor is made of wood. Bright colors reflect the attitude of most islanders. It was 80 degrees and cloudy when Linda and I left our cruise ship and walked into Road Town. It was immediately obvious the island was small and sparsely populated. Road Town with 13,000 people contains two–thirds of the population of BVI. It reminded me of a small, more prosperous Belize City.

Along the two parallel main streets, Waterfront Street and Main Street, were shops, government offices, hotels, and restaurants. The architecture could be described as well–worn wooden British colonial. To me, very attractive, very romantic.

On Sir Olva George’s Plaza in the center of Road Town, Tortola, BVI, is the oldest government building, which now houses the police department. No vendors or hucksters approached us as we walked to Sir Olva George’s Plaza, something we didn’t expect. Most of the people were black, and most were busy at work. With the plaza as a base, we identified the colonial–style post office with its 1866 flooring, the customs office, and other government buildings.

Five minutes away was our main objective, the Virgin Islands Folk Museum located in the Penn House. This typical West Indian house was built in 1911 by a shipwright and was then on the waterfront. Now Waterfront Street is several blocks from the sea.

Also on Sir Olva George’s Plaza is the post office with wooden flooring that dates back to 1866. The museum contained some stone artifacts from the early Indians who inhabited the islands before the Caribs and the Arawaks moved from South America to await Columbus. The small collection from the plantation slave era denoted the relatively small slave force working on the BVI prior to emancipation in 1848 by the British.

The helpful lady working in the museum told me there were no records remaining in Tortola concerning plantations, slaves, or the slave trade. She suggested I could find it in London. I was disappointed but not surprised. We checked the local library and found nothing there either. They also said all shipping records were kept in London.

We had lunch at Capriccio di Mare Italian restaurant — pizza and iced tea. It wasn’t West Indian fare, but cornmeal and goat meat proved hard to find in Road Town.

Linda and I met a retired professor at the Capr iccio di Mare Italian restaurant. He divides his time between Tortola and Minnesota. A retired professor from Minnesota sitting next to us in the outdoor cabana said he has been spending six months a year in Tortola for four years. The quiet atmosphere and the inexpensive housing was just right for his new internet business.

Continued next week